Artigli di tigre - Il ritorno

I didn't even know that they had made a part two and three for the 1985 movie "No Retreat, No Surrender". And it wasn't until now in 2024, as I happened to stumble upon the 1987 movie "No Retreat, No Surrender 2: Raging Thunder" that I was made aware of parts two and three. Of course I opted to sit down and watch this 1987 sequel, and see what director Corey Yuen had to offer.

I have to admit that I was a bit surprised to see that it was Corey Yuen who directed the movie, as he usually have good movies to his name, so I actually had some expectations for this sequel, despite the fact that it was following up on a mediocre movie at best.

The storyline and narrative in "No Retreat, No Surrender 2: Raging Thunder", as written by Maria Elena Cellino, Roy Horan and Keith W. Strandberg, was watchable and entertaining enough for what it was. But keep in mind, the writers didn't really reinvent the wheel here, as it was a fairly generic and formulaic narrative. They opted to play it safe and bet on the traditional tropes of the action and martial arts movies from the 1980s and early 1990s. And I can't help but wonder if the writers had enjoyed the 1985 "First Blood Part II" a tad too much, as their script sort of had a Rambo-vibe to it.

The movie has a lot of plot holes and scenes where you just go 'why?'. Especially the scene where they scaled the waterfall. Why not climb up where there was no water, and thus no slippery rocks? It was just plain stupidity why that scene even came into existence. The scene where a guy is thrown into a hole with crocodiles was also pretty good, especially since you could see that it was fake plastic crocodiles bobbing about as the waves from the impact when the body hit the water made them bob up and down.

Why is the movie even carrying the "No Retreat, No Surrender" title? There is nothing connecting it to the original 1985 movie.

I can't claim that I found leading actor Loren Avedon to be a particularly great lead, as his acting was somewhat stinted. I was only familiar with Cynthia Rothrock, Matthias Hues and Nirut Sirichanya in the movie. And I never were much of a fan of Cynthia Rothrock back in the grand days of martial arts movies, so I wasn't particularly thrilled to see her name on the screen during the intro sequence. In general, though, I will say that the acting performances in "No Retreat, No Surrender 2: Raging Thunder" were okay. Sure, you're not in for an evening of Shakespearian theater, but for an action movie of this type, the acting was fair. Well, for the most parts fair, actor Matthias Hues as the Russian leader was just cringeworthy, as his acting was laughably bad.

The movie does have a fair amount of action sequences and martial arts scenes, which definitely speaks in favor of the movie. Just funny how goons and henchmen always fire their weapon downwards, usually striking nothing but ground at the feet of where the narrative's heroes were just a moment ago.

The first fight scene with Matthias Hues against some local Thai fellow was one of the most laughable fight scenes I've seen in a long, long time. It looked as if Matthias Hues was performing some kind of strange ballet. It was such a comical scene, that it was hard to take it serious.

Visually, the movie was okay. I was especially much a fan of the amazing fiery balls of explosions that the fragmentation genades caused, and the sheer radius of aforementioned fiery fireball was also impressive.

So was "No Retreat, No Surrender 2: Raging Thunder" a great movie? Hardly so. But it was certainly a watchable movie, albeit a rather generic and formulaic one. But if you enjoyed the action and martial arts movies of the 1980s and early 1990s, then you should find some enjoyment in this 1987 movie. It was hardly an outstanding movie, and I doubt that I will ever return to watch it a second time.

My rating of director Corey Yuen's 1987 movie "No Retreat, No Surrender 2: Raging Thunder" lands on a five out of ten stars.

This was originally intended to be a direct sequel to the first 'NR, NS' which launched the career of a certain Jean Claude Van Damme. However Van Damme pulled out feeling the film would not have furthered his career while persuading co-star Kurt McKinney to do the same. As a result, the story was changed with Tae Kwon Do expert Loren Avedon and Matthias Hues drafted in to play the American and Russian stereotypes.

The basic synopsis sees Avedon's character call in some friends in an attempt to rescue his Thai girlfriend, while strangely coming across a contingent of the Russian army (camped out in the Vietnamese jungle!) in the process, as well as a group of fake Shaolin monks. (Blame Keith W. Strandberg for the script!).

Surprisingly, for an American film, there are some well executed and imaginative fight sequences predominantly showcasing the excellent kicking skills of Avedon. This is clearly the influence of Yuen Kwai who was not prepared to concede too much to the American filming and time constraints. The finale, while inferior to the first films final reel, features Cynthia Rothrock as a hard-hitting, tough talking helicopter pilot (not a cop/CIA/FBI agent for a change!) showing some of the moves which made her name on the Jade screen. This movie is one of the only 80's flicks that uses her real voice! Loren Avedon did not follow Jean Claude's example and stayed on after this film fulfilling his 3 picture contract, notably with the decent third instalment of the NR, NS series: 'Blood Brothers' with the excellent Keith Vitali (Yuen Biao's opponent in 'Wheels on Meals') and I am surprised he was never used in a 'real' Hong Kong picture as he is clearly skilled and quick enough to have made a good screen villain.

To me this is one of the best movie of its type. The chief reason being the interesting mixture of characters in this movie, and they're all good.

Of course this movie stars Loren Avedon, and Cynthia Rothrock, both of whom were at their early stages of their career, but they look fresh, and good. Even better than many of their later works, so the director of this movie must have been really good.

Each scenes has attention to details, and they have the clean looks to them that makes it easy on the eyes.

Story is pretty good too, perfectly matched to each of the characters.

This definitely is one of the best movie Loren Avedon, and Cynthia Rothrock has starred in. It's bit juvenile for me now, but when it came out, I was much younger, and it looked perfect to me at the time.

This sequel has nothing to do with the original film, but is connected that American kickboxers fight Soviet killing machines. This marked the debuts of Loren Avedon and Matthias Hues. The only flaw in the film was the short fight between Cynthia Rothrock and Hwang Jang-lee. If this was longer and Hwang didn't have any padding, the fight would've been spectacular. The finale between Avedon and Hues is blistering, especially when Avedon unleashes his awesome kicking. Pretty good for martial arts fans to enjoy!!!

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs

Corey Yeun,whose dayjob is a fight chereographer on the sets of various martial arts films,makes his second directing effort with this sequel to his 1985 original No Retreat No Surrender.Oddly,the plot to this sequel bears absolutely no resemblance to the original at all,with none of the original cast members returning either (including the ghost of Bruce Lee).That's no real problem,though,because a follow up to that ridiculously awful film probably wouldn't have been appreciated too greatly anyway.This is a film in an altogether different league,with a cast of martial artists in the leads.Loren Avedon is a little goofy in the lead but engaging enough,whilst Richard Norton alike Max Thayer adds good support.Cynthia Rothrock gets some nice lines here and there but she has serious problems with her delivery.And,finally,Matthias Hues is a video game villain ,right down to his 'hahaha' interludes,though quite credible.Running at as brisk a pace as the first,this is itself pretty damn stupid,but features some nice action and,if only seen once,passes muster.***